So welcome to the November 2012 edition of eBayWatch. Thanks for all of your feedback after last month’s column. It appears that the new format is a hit, and is certainly far easier for me to produce every month, so here you go! It’s only December 9 and the November BayWatch is in the books! But seriously, thanks for all your feedback folks.

There’s some real beauties this month, and some real big ticket items, especially in the 90s section! There’s also a Skull Skates deck which I’ve never seen before which needs some verification. So enjoy the month. And happy holidays! I’ll be in England for Xmas so maybe I’ll pick up a deck or two from ToddTwist or something! ST.

For my music selection this month we have to travel back in the way-back machine. All the way back to May 1960 to be exact. That’s when Billy Fury, the English rock and roll star released his first album, “The Sound of Fury”. It’s been literally decades since I head it last, but thanks to Spotify I discovered it again, and then purchased it on iTunes. It’s a magnificent record full of early rock and roll, some rockabilly and some breathtaking ballads. Fury had a remarkable voice, raucous when it needed to be, but also incredibly soft and tender, and unlike most early rockers he wrote a lot of his own songs. My favorites are “That’s Love” where he sounds like a young Ricky Nelson, the rockabilly “Turn My Back On You” and the hauntingly beautiful “Alright Goodbye”. It’s a short album, 10 songs in 24 minutes, but it’s fantastic. Give it a try. And oh yeah, here’s a funny story about Billy Fury. He was from Liverpool, and after sacking his backing band in 1961 he held local auditions for a new band. One of the bands that tried out was a young local band that called themselves The Silver Beetles. They were offered the job for 20 a week on the condition that they fired their bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. John Lennon refused and the band left after he got Fury’s autograph!

60s, 70s, early 80s.

First up this in the 70s section this month is this Dogtown Bob Biniak “Bullet” complete from 1978. It comes complete with Tracker trucks and unknown wheels. It’s in good user condition, and the red fade is excellent, especially with the red wheels and red plastics! The yellow in the Tracker trucks stickers even complements the yellow in the graphic! This sold for $1,350 on a Buy It Now after one hour!

Here we have a pair of Hobie “Hotdogger” fiberglass decks from the mid 70s. We have the original Hotdogger and the Hotdogger II. Both are NOS, never set up or ridden. The original is 24” long and the second model is 27” long. You seldom see either one, so to see both being sold as a set is a huge bonus. They sold for $525.

Here we have the obligatory Z-Flex Jay Adams complete from 1976. Well not obligatory, but these go off every month without fail, so it seems like a staple in the 70s section. This one is in very good condition, and hardly appears to have been ridden. It comes complete with California Slalom trucks and Road Rider 4 wheels. It has also been signed by Jay. See it there behind the front truck? Of course anybody could have signed that I guess. All it takes is a sharpie…. This sold for $1,375.

And here we have a Sims Bert LaMar “S-Ply Stinger” from 1979. It is in very nice condition, but note, the board has been restored some and the top has been regripped. It comes complete with Trackers with magnesium baseplates and Sims Snakes conicals. So while not all original this is certainly a very nice look restoration job and would look good in any collection. It sold for $501. The Kryptonics sticker needs to go though. What the hell is that doing there? It’s totally distracting.

Now here’s something totally cool and 100% grail worthy! So at first glance you’re looking at this and thinking I’ve gone mad, right? It’s a run-of-the-mill Logan Earth Ski Torger Johnson model. Ok condition but covered in stickers and that ruins it, right? Sure, that is correct. But look at the damned trucks! What you have there is a set of Strokers baby! Actually mounted on a skateboard! You seldom see that. Most Strokers you see are sold on their own; almost to the extent that you wondered if any were EVER actually ridden! Well here’s a set! Plus you get some nice condition OJs. The stickers are a challenge here too. As much as I would like to say trash them, they are all period vintage. And they are all pertinent to the board too! OJ Wheels, Logan Erath Ski and Stroker stickers are all present. Along with a Skateboarder Mag sticker too! So I’d probably keep them on. This sold for $800 on 9 bids.

And here’s a Santa Cruz Salba “Bevel” from 1980. It’s in good used condition, and comes complete with Indy Stage IIs and OJ Street Juice conical wheels. Let me tell you, this was a big ass board and had a lot of concave for the time too. Hence the rails in the middle of the board: see the holes? All of the plastics have been removed here which I think was unnecessary. I know I normally say that’s a good idea, but the graphic is so simple here that it wouldn’t have mattered. Unless they were purple or green or something! Red would have been perfect here. It sold for $433 on 16 bids.

And here’s a very clean Z-Woody Shogo Kubo model. It comes complete with Gullwing HPG IV trucks and original OJ wheels. Why not? Everything else comes with OJs this month it seems! This complete is seriously clean. The wheels look pristine and the griptape is even clean. It sold for $1,026 on 5 bids.

Mid 1980s

So first up in the 80s section this month we have this Rip City Black Flag “Reason for Living” complete from 1984. It’s in pretty good used condition, and this one was used as a cruiser around town I’d say. No rails but a nose guard to protect from bumping into walls. Plus the tailbone has plenty of use from tail drags. Add the lapper for getting up curbs and you have your classic 1984 town cruiser! It comes complete with Indys (of course) and Bones Threes. It sold for $1,111 on 10 bids. Thank god for the plastics eh!

Here we have a G&S Neil Blender “Coffee Break” from 1986. It comes complete with Trackers and Sims Nitro wheels. It’s in decent used condition, with the entire wonderful graphic intact. The pink dip is a little much, and the red tailbone is really distracting. That thing needs to be pulled off and burned immediately. But overall it’s a Coffee Break, so the other stuff doesn’t really matter! It sold for $500 on 8 bids.

And here we have another G&S Neil Blender. This one is the “Picasso” or “Prayer” model from 1987. This one is NOS, never gripped or set up. The woodstain is an interesting color: I can’t tell from the pic if it is simply natural or if there’s some green in there. The graphic is simple and that is reflected in the simple use of color: light blue, dark blue and black. It’s a classic board. It sold for $565 on 15 bids. Put it this way, your girlfriend might not scream about having this one on the wall. But a Kryptonics Ripstik? You might as well start packing now…

OK, hold the fucking presses, because here we have a NOS original Brand X deck. Yes, one of the 4 original Brand X decks! This is the “X-Terminator” model from 1983, and not the “Vertical Hold” as the seller suggests. The black and pink is totally 80s, and I love the offset blue in the squares. This is classic early Brand X, and is NOS, which you never see. So for it to sell for only $405 is a bit of a mystery.

So the question on this deck is how much is a Tony Hawk signature worth? The deck is a Powell Peralta “Bug” team deck from 1987. These were super common a few years ago, selling for as low as $69. They have dried up since then, and this pale blue checker with red and yellow bug is strong, but I’d have thought $300 max for this. But wait! This one has been signed one the tail by Tony Hawk! So I guess that alone pushed this one up to $500. Some little sprog is gonna be happy this Xmas! Until of course he decides he’s into something else by next Xmas, and this will be taken off he wall and relegated to the basement.

Ohhhh! A Santa Cruz Jason Jessee “Neptune w/ shark tail”! This is the much rarer early version: the later ones came with the mermaid on the tail and a different serpent. Believe it or not this one is mint in shrink with original warranty card etc. Yes, it’s a mint Jessee shark tail: one of the most collectible graphics in mint condition, so as you would imagine, it was never going to go for cheap. This sold for $2,137.

Here we have a really nice Santa Cruz Jeff Kendall “Graffiti” complete from 1986. This is one of those ones where you thank the seller for being a poser and or putting all of the plastics on, because this is in awesome condition. The deck looks basically unridden with no real blemishes at all, the stage III Indys look new and the OJ Speed Wheels look like they’ve never touched pavement. And it’s in a really nice black stain, which allows the bright graphics to really pop. It sold for $645 on 23 bids.

So here’s a Walker Mark Lake “Nightmare” complete from 1986. It comes complete with Indys and PP Street Bones. It’s in decent used condition with tail and nose wear etc., but nothing too major. The entire graphic is there, and the amazing/ridiculous shape is wholly intact. This deck will never be anybody’s holy grail, but it holds a soft spot for most 80s skaters and that always makes it collectible. It’s easily one of the most recognizable skateboard decks ever. It sold for $395 on 19 bids.

Here we have a Skull Skates “Mutant” team model from 1986. This came in two shapes, one for regular foot and one for goofy foot skaters. I think this is the regular? It comes complete with white Trackers and H-Street wheels. The deck has some tail wear but not much else: it’s in really nice condition. The stickers need to go though. They are totally out of place on this intricate graphic. You don’t see this deck very often at all. It sold for $500 on a Buy It Now after 12 hours.

And here we have a Sims Eric Nash “Bandito” from 1987. It’s NOS, never gripped or mounted. The colorway is really nice as you can see; it’s one of the nicer Nash decks I’ve ever seen. The blue stain isn’t overpowering, and the woodgrain is really pretty. The yellow and orange in the graphic is strong, and the purple in the sombrero is awesome. That’s a sharp looking deck and it sold for $699.

Here’s a classic SMA (NHS) Natas Kaupas “Panther Bulldog” from 1988. It’s mint in shrink, with warranty card etc. The lavender dip is probably the best colorway for this deck, so this is basically as nice as it comes. It sold for $1,225 on 16 bids.

Here’s a Santa Cruz “Psychotic” team model from 1986. It’s in decent used condition with some tail wear and scuffing through the graphic. Still, it’s a deck you don’t see very often, and it really stands out from the crowd. It still has one rail attached, but the other one must have been lost in time somewhere! It sold for $365 on 16 bids.

Here we have a Santa Cruz Gregor Rankin “Monster” from 1989. It’s in good used condition; the entire graphic is there and most of the wear is on the tail. This is a rare deck: rumor has it that only 1000 were made for this New Zealand pro. It’s very popular with collectors down under obviously. The colorway on this one is striking, much nicer than the white or natural that you normally see. It sold for $600 on 12 bids.

Now here we have a Santa Cruz Corey O’Brien “Reaper” deck from 1988. This one is NOS, never been gripped or setup. It has some storage scuffs etc. but nothing major. The natural colorway is epic on this deck because it allows the mega details in the graphic to show up beautifully. Only the light green is better IMHO. It sold for $800, which might seem like a lot until you see what the reissue sold for below!

And here we have an Airbourne Red Hot Chili Peppers band deck from 1990. It’s NOS, never gripped or mounted. It’s highly collectible for both skate collectors and RHCP collectors because it was produced in such small numbers. Airbourne did a series of band decks during this same time period including a Faith No More deck and a series of Rolling Stones decks. This sold for $1,200.

And here’s something else from 1990, and I can pretty much guarantee that you’ve never seen this before. It’s supposedly the last model that Skull Skates produced in the 80s/90s before they stopped producing decks for 15 years. At least that’s what the seller claims. I don’t recognize the graphic, and the logo on the tail appears to be a sticker, which would all suggest that it’s from some other company, but the Tub Tech 4 logo on the nose suggests that it is genuine. Maybe they were producing decks for somebody else at this point? I’m not sure, and I hope that somebody out there can shed some light on this one. The seller claims that they only made 200 before pulling the plug and it is a very similar shape to the Phil E “Angel” model from 1990. This sold for $500.

And here’s a beauty! It’s a Dogtown “Stonefish” team deck from 1985. The deck is NOS, never gripped or mounted, and it comes with 13 vintage Dogtown stickers. The black and red colorway is smart, and overall it’s a really collectible deck. This sold for $1,200 on a Buy It Now and it lasted for less than 12 hours.

And sticking with Dogtown we have this Suicidal Skates (Dogtown) “Possessed to Skate” model from 1985. It’s actually the same shape as the Stonefish above, which if I had planned it would have been totally cool, but as it is was a complete coincidence! This one is in good use condition, and is in the KILLER red dip. Obviously a mint one is out of the range of most of us, but this one went for a much more reasonable $650. Seriously, I must own this deck one day.

And here’s something that used to be on eBay every month, but has totally dried up! It’s the Santa Cruz Mitsugu Toyoda “Skaterat” model from 1988. Yes, he was the first Japanese pro, and this model was produced in very limited numbers. The graphic is so cheesy that it’s almost cool. This deck is in very good used condition, and the griptape has been removed so it has some sticky residue. The graphic is all there. This sold for $360 on 11 bids.

90s-present day

First up in the 90s section this month we have this Powell Pat Brennan “Meat” slick from 1992. This one is in average used condition. Its been ridden a lot and has tail and nose wear and some slideage scuffs across the center of the deck. Still, most slicks have the graphics completely gone, so it’s not too bad really! It sold for $500.

So here we have a Fishlips Gator “Big Gulp” model from 1991. It was Gator’s last pro model and Fishlips first pro model. A strange convergence really! Fishlips was a very small company and they gambled it all on this Gator deck. But Gator did his heinous crime at about the same time that this model was released, so the whole company was basically ruined at that point. This is NOS, never mounted or gripped, and the tri-color colorway is an interesting twist. It sold for a remarkably high $743 on 28 bids, so I would imagine that these will start coming out of the woodwork now.

Here we have a Blind Rudy Johnson “Helmet Skull” from 1992. It’s a spoof on the PP per Welinder “Nordic Skull” graphic, at that time when Blind and Powell were at war and were ripping on each other through their graphics. It seems childish now but at the time it was revolutionary and shocking. The colorway on this one is very pedestrian: blue on purple stain. Not much imagination there. But it’s NOS and is an important piece of skate history. So who knows when another NOS one will come up! It sold for a large $2,391 on 35 bids.

And here we have a Blind Jason Lee “Devil Worship” model from 1992(?). It was never officially produced for Jason. This graphic was offered to him but he wanted nothing to do with it so Natas decided to use it instead. This one was done as a factory sample or something like that, and you might never see another one. So yeah, it’s a pretty freaking big deal. How big? Well it sold for $2,175 on 51 bids.

Here we have a Blind Henry Sanchez “Claudia Schiffer” deck from 1992. The graphic is by Sean Cliver and was originally going to be used as a Powell Adam McNatt graphic. But then Sean got fired before it came out so he took the graphic with him when he went to Blind. They produced the same graphic for all of their pro riders, so you will see the same decks with the Jason Lee, Rudy Johnson, and Guy Mariano names on them. The deck is NOS and sold for $750.

Here’s a SMA Julian Stranger “Flying High” deck from 1990. The deck has been gripped but never mounted, so I guess you could call it NOS? It’s a very desirable deck, and the blue dip is bright and cheery, just like the content of the graphic! No wait… This sold for $662 on 4 bids.

And here’s a big one to finish off the 90s section this month. It’s a World Industries Jovontae Turner ‘Reward” deck from 1992. It’s NOS, never mounted or gripped, and is super rare in any condition, let alone NOS. It’s the typical WI Jovontae graphic theme using dumb white racists, but I guess at the time it was cutting edge. This sold for $1,700 on 28 bids.

Assorted Crap

We had two skate banners go off for big money last month, so that encouraged others to sell theirs I guess! This one features a plethora of Santa Cruz/NHS graphics from 1988ish! Salba, Natas, Roskopp, Jessee, Grabke, Speed Wheels, Indy. They are all there! You and your friends can get drunk and try and name all of them at your next old timers party! It sold for $441 on 16 bids.

Belair made a lot of wheels in the 70s, but were probably best known for the Lipbomb. Well here is the “Lipcone”, a big as single conical wheel with an aluminum hub! They must have been their answer to the Gyro that was so popular at the time, but I admit, I’ve never seen these before. They are mint and they sold for $400.

Ah yes, toy store boards from the 80s! Who amongst us didn’t pull one out while shopping for new cheap jeans? They were normally in a display box so you had to pull it out carefully, but then you’d always be amazed that the wheels didn’t really turn at all, and you would go about 2 feet. And they weren’t cheap either. This beauty is an ungodly Variflex Coca Cola/Max Headroom collaboration. With all of the plastics, copers and lapper it LOOKS like a real skateboard but sadly it isn’t, as I’m sure little Jimmy found out to his chagrin when he got laughed out of the school yard. But little Jimmy got the last laugh because he sold this piece of crap 25 years later on eBay for $408. +

So here’s where you get to hear me rant, and it’s gonna get ugly, so if you don’t like swearing cover your ears, or stop reading I guess. What we have here are two Santa Cruz reissue decks. The top one is the Claus Grabke “Exploding Clocks” from 2003, while below that we have the Corey O’Brien “Reaper” from 2009. Yes folks, they are reissues. The auctions were very clear about that. They said “REISSUE” in multiple places. And yet, some prize fucking wally paid $404 for the Grabke and, wait for it, $560 for the O’Brien. Look, the world has gone fucking mad. At least the Grabke is almost 10 years old and was put out in limited numbers. But the O’Brien isn’t even 5 years old, there were tons of them out there, and to add insult to injury, the white dip was horrific and yellowed almost immediately as you can see here. It’s a piece of crap, heat transfer, cheap ass reissue, and yet it sold for more than a lot of originals do. Do people just not care? Can they not read? Or do some people honestly don’t know what REISSUE fucking means? Maybe they think it’s a manufacturing technique like BlackTop or Boneite or something. And it wasn’t a fluke. There were 19 bids from multiple buyers. And another reaper reissue went off shortly after for $500. So yeah. Somebody explain it to me. I don’t get it. I’m honestly going to try emailing the buyer, see if he can explain it to me. Stay tuned.

I agree 100%! It kills me what Chicken Skulls and LMFP go for. These decks are far FAR from rare, there is always 5 or more of either one on ebay at all times. Hard to be $1500 worth of impressed with a deck you see multiple times a day. Thus being the reason I’ll probably never own one

I got started with the herb in 3rd grade. I’d just moved here from Scotland, and everybody wanted to fight. The Mexican kids fought hard and made friends easily. They liked futbol, and I liked football, and neither of us had ever heard of soccer.

However, a few of them knew of mota, and by my 6th grade year, I puffed pretty much all the time. Like predictable immigrants, my folks were splitting up, school made no sense, and explusion loomed. Grass and booze made sense, and then I found Iron Maiden. I had a skateboard in the garage. My dad had surfed in Scotland.

Thank god for skateboarding, if there was a god, anyway. By middle school, my family imploded, I’d worked a summer on a haytruck, and I knew I wanted to skate, read books, drive trucks and since as I was in middle school, fiddle every chick I could reach.

Not much changed.

This sport/life/diversion/whatever-you-call-it finds you. Not the other way round. I love it, I hate it, and I’ll never understand it. It’s skateboarding. It’s life. And it pisses me off.

Excellent and well-filled Watch, Neil. What a treat! And so soon in the month.
I don’t get that price for the re-issue O’Brien either. Don’t people recognize new school truck holes with their bare eyes? My guess also is that they don’t care.

I have one of those Julien Stranger syringe plane decks that I put grip on, but never skated. I bought it from one of those Old School Skateboard dealers for $70 circa 2000. I was thinking about skating it now, but maybe I won’t. I’ll trade it for a guitar if anybody in the Bay Area wants it.

Hey Neil
Awsome reading again mate. That re-issue Grabke Exploding Clock was mine. I honestly could not believe it fetched that much, obviously I was very happy, the cash went into my collection of originals.
Thanks for the great news every month.

Fantastic post Neil! Some great stuff this month: as much as some people dislike them, I love seeing NOS World Industries decks from the early ’90s. The Jovontae and Branagh decks were hard enough to find at the time of release here in the UK, let alone finding them today. Thanks again for your efforts – muh appreciated.

What i cannot understand is why not all the decks from ebay were listed here??
There was a baby blue 86 full size hawk that sold and a 89 fullsize mcgill in lime yellow!! Plus another mini psycho stick.
Dont get how u missed it

What I cannot understand is how some people don’t understand what I do in this column every month. I cover decks that interest ME. I write about what I like and what I think the readers will like. Yes, I could fill every watch with Hawks and McGills because a ton of them sell every month. But that wouldn’t be interesting to anybody. So I didn’t miss them. I just didn’t want to cover yet another Hawk. Or McGill. Or Psycho.

Keep it up Neil, its a great feature that keeps me coming back for more. I also really like the 1990’s decks thta have been popping up. That J Jesse is identical to a thrashed on I still ride. Crazy to see what it could have been worth.

and we have our first sale. Someone bought one for $275. There were Hawk and Mountain Brigade Issue boards posted by the same seller and the Hawk sold. Seems crazy to pay over retail at this point seeing as they’re still making the board.

Not sure on the 101 Jason Lee being legit. I know some T-shirts were printed but at a later date by Sean Cliver (I have one) but never heard of early runs being done before he bottled it and Natas took the graphic.

Re: that Skull Skates unknown deck – the graphic is “Frenchie”, a character often drawn by Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus) of GWAR. I don’t know if it was officially commissioned, or ripped-off. I’m too lazy to dig up a better example, but you can see an elaborate painting of it here: http://www.mfgallery.net/images4/GWAR7.jpg
you could prolly ask Dave, himself @ his tumblr. http://maggotmaster13.tumblr.com

Hey just found this site and column – awesome feature – the prices these go for makes me think I won’t be trying to pick up my first board (SMA Thiebaud) after all :/ Anyway, I was wondering if you had any advice or could point me in the direction of any tips for someone starting to collect decks that are being produced now (not re-issues, contemporary skaters/brands)with a view to how they will ‘mature’ if you see what I mean?